Thread by @wendellpotter

Over the last few days, I’ve been asked many times: If a new Supreme Court overturns Obamacare, what would that mean for most Americans? As a former health insurance executive, here’s the scary truth: (1/12)

Some of my former colleagues are licking their chops. If the Supreme Court guts protections for pre-existing conditions, folks with asthma, diabetes or COVID-19 will be kicked off plans. That’s because they’re expensive to cover & insurers care about one thing: profit (2/12)

Millions of children will lose health coverage & seniors will lose Rx drug discounts. I’m particularly concerned about seniors because they're more likely to get sick. And those are the customers insurers want to avoid at all costs (literally). This reminds me of a story: (3/12)

Without protections from the ACA, insurers can do some evil things to deny you care. I remember a Texas woman whose policy was “rescinded” when she got breast cancer. The insurer's reason? She’d forgotten to mention on her application that she'd once been treated for acne. (4/12)

An investigation into this common industry practice found that some insurers paid employees BONUSES for finding policies to cancel so they wouldn’t have to pay for women’s surgery & chemotherapy. An untold number of Americans died as a result. This could be the norm again. (5/12)

In June 2009, I became a whistleblower & testified before Congress about how insurance companies really operate. I told senators that for 20 years I saw how insurance companies "confuse their customers & dump the sick—all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.” (6/12)

I explained that insurance companies dumped hundreds of thousands of sick people each year to avoid paying their bills. And they actively searched for customers to dump to avoid paying bills. Aetna even installed software to identify customers with high medical expenses. (7/12)

I also explained that to meet Wall St’s profit expectations, insurers spent less & less each year on claims. Investors keep a close eye on insurers’ “medical loss ratio,” which shows how much of premiums an insurer uses to pay claims. The less, the better for Wall Street. (8/12)

The bottom line? Insurers consider millions of Americans “uninsurable” due to preexisting conditions. Even “nonprofits” like Blue Cross of Tennessee rejected 1/3 applicants because of them. The biggest insurers sold junk policies that often didn’t cover a hospital stay. (9/12)

ACA wasn’t perfect - believe me. But it did a lot to protect Americans. It outlawed junk policies. It made it illegal for insurers to refuse to sell coverage to people with preexisting conditions (more than 1/2 of US adults), or charge more because of your health status. (10/12)

The ACA also made it illegal for insurers to dump the sick just to avoid paying claims. It makes insurers spend at least 80% of premiums we pay on our medical care. All that is now in serious jeopardy. It makes me sick to think America could go back to those awful days. (11/12)

I’m afraid that could happen. You should be, too. If the far right gets their way & strips these protections, millions of Americans won’t be able to see a doctor. Many will die.

Meanwhile, the executives at big health insurance companies will rake in record profits. (/END.)